7 SAP BTP Strategy to Accelerate Your Digital Transformation

Digital transformation has become a catchall phrase for elevating enterprise-wide business processes, improved customer engagement, and long-term sustainable growth. As per a KPMG report, emerging and disruptive technology concerns are the top three risks for organizational growth. No wonder 72% of organizations continue to prioritize digital investment and are expecting digital products and services to drive at least 20% of their revenues in the next two years. 

While the cloud may already be part of your digital strategy, leveraging the SAP Business Technology Platform could be the key to optimizing existing processes, increasing profitability, and securing a dominant position in your industry.

SAP Business Technology Platform ( SAP BTP) combines intelligent enterprise applications with database and data management, analytics, integration, and extension capabilities into one platform for cloud and hybrid environments, including hundreds of pre-built integrations for SAP and third-party applications. 

The goal? To create an inter-connected heterogeneous business landscape of intelligent business processes on your terms!

However, transitioning from existing on-premise legacy systems to SAP  BTP without disruptions can be demanding for organizations and IT departments.

It can become quite complex and irreparable if you don’t have a proper strategy.  Here’re are the top 7 of our tried & tested SAP BTP strategies to accelerate your digital transformation.

Before starting your digital transformation with SAP BTP, it’s crucial to gain a deep understanding of what lies ahead. This involves a comprehensive understanding of the scope of SAP BTP, its related systems, and potential impact on your ongoing business process. 

Make sure you have the right partner with the resources and expertise to ensure a safe & smooth migration. Here are some questions to discuss before finalizing a partner. 

• How will this transition impact my organization and existing processes?
• What changes will it bring to my existing integration scenarios, and what new integration points need to be implemented and supported?
• How does transitioning to SAP BTP align with our organizational roadmap and objectives?
• How do we address interconnected third-party dependencies during migration?
• Will our critical business processes continue seamlessly during the transition?
• What additional resources, including hardware, will be required?
• Which automation test tools should we employ to ensure a smooth transition?

This is one of the most common missteps. Migration involves significant organizational changes in people, processes, and technology. More often than not, organizations go for a lift-and-shift migration model to avoid risks and disruptions. Nothing changes when you lift & shift— the same old complex screens, frustrating workflows and countless clicks to complete even the simplest task. 

Start by identifying time-consuming, error-prone business processes, transactions, workflows, and user journeys. Prioritize this as your first step while planning your migration. Consider consulting with your end users. There’s no one better equipped to pinpoint the exact pain points and how best to fix them than those who use the system daily. 

Once you’ve gathered insights from your users, collaborate with an expert SAP Implementation Partner to devise a comprehensive strategy for addressing these challenges.

At Crave, we believe in creating innovative solutions that align with your end goal and organizational roadmap. Our experts can help you adapt to new demands by automating your workflows and business processes.

After assessing your current infrastructure, the next step is to create a migration plan for moving systems from on-premises to the cloud. Having a solid plan in place beforehand helps prevent issues during migration and ensures a smooth production go-live.

The first crucial step in our migration plan is to build a solid foundation. During this phase, your migration partner will build the basic cloud infrastructure to support your SAP workloads and applications. This infrastructure serves as the cornerstone for utilizing all your cloud services effectively.

Note: Conduct a Proof of Concept (POC) 

Ask your migration partner for a POC after the initial assessment. A POC allows you to explore the new technology before committing to migration, assess its actual benefits, and test its alignment with your business case.

A POC typically takes the form of:

• A demonstration showcasing the functionality of the new application.
• A test case performed within the existing business and IT framework to validate its alignment with the business case.
• A pilot program that initiates migration in incremental phases.

One of the most critical (often overlooked) steps during the digital transformation journey is identifying integration points within your organization. These integration points represent opportunities to optimize, automate, and enhance your business processes. They are the gateways to streamlining your operations and boosting efficiency.

But how do you go about identifying these integration points?

It starts with a comprehensive analysis of your existing workflows, transactions, and user journeys. Look for tasks that are time-consuming, error-prone, or resource-intensive. These are the areas where integration can make the most significant impact.

Generally, organizations are hesitant to change existing workflows, even after moving to the cloud. They feel users have successfully used the same workflows for years, so why change? But if you dig deeper, you’ll likely find that these workflows involve jumping between screens, tabs, and Excel sheets, which (if you ask them) is inefficient and frustratingly time-consuming.

You can simplify these complex workflows, reduce the mental load on users, and improve task efficiency by customizing your regular tasks into BTP apps. SAP integration tools offer many features to help you design tasks for different user roles and purposes. 

For example, a Plant Manager tracking plant floor activity, a Mining Supervisor managing work orders, or a Finance Controller handling invoices can access simplified mini BTP apps from their mobile devices, making tasks more efficient.

The SaaS-heavy businesses today have a heterogeneous IT landscape. With so many integrated solutions, the layouts, behaviors, controls and actions can vary significantly. Navigating multiple systems and screens to complete a simple task can be overwhelming for end users. 

It can lead to creating inconsistent user journeys and poor User Experience. Now, throw mobile devices into the mix. They’ve become the preferred mode for accessing enterprise apps. 

So, it’s not just about making solutions available; it’s about ensuring they work seamlessly on mobile devices to encourage better adoption.

At Crave, we utilize SAP Fiori to personalize and simplify the user experience (UX). SAP Fiori incorporates modern UX design principles to deliver a role-based, consumer-grade user experience across all lines of business, tasks, and devices. 

This is a key component we advise you on including in your digital transformation strategy. Even when working with third-party solutions through APIs, they help make the experience more unified and user-friendly.

.

When transitioning to BTP, speed and agility in development are paramount. This strategy focuses on intelligent methods to efficiently reach your solution development goals.

The good news is you don’t have to start from scratch! 

There’s a wealth of industry templates and pre-designed Fiori layouts available for download, ready to be customized for your specific use cases. This approach is far simpler and quicker than building everything from the ground up.

What’s more, with the latest SAP release, you no longer need sound technical knowledge to create a BTP mobile app or web page and even define business processes.

Here’s a handy list of tools that can supercharge your digital transformation:

• SAP Build Apps: For effortlessly creating low-code or no-code mobile apps. It’s a user-friendly drag-and-drop tool that facilitates design and database integration.
• SAP Build Process Automation: A straightforward drag-and-drop process automation builder for streamlining business processes.
• SAP Build Work Zone: Ideal for crafting webpages and home screens, much like a Launchpad.
• SAP Fiori Apps Reference Library: Your go-to resource for downloading numerous pre-defined application templates based on industry best practices.
• SAP Fiori Elements: Offering pre-designed floor plans and screen layouts, making development even more efficient.

Another key consideration in future-proofing an organization is ensuring a clean core. Whether starting your digital transformation journey from scratch or building on your existing investments— this digital transformation trend is crucial in ensuring stable and reliable operations while being agile and innovative. 

According to McKinsey, 10–20% of the technology spent on new products is redirected to negating technical debt. This debt grows over time due to many ERP system improvements, requiring extensive maintenance and testing during patches and software upgrades. This can delay your updates, leaving you vulnerable to unknown threats.

You can avoid technical debt and focus on new product development by selecting a clean core and deploying extension options that reduce ERP system modifications. Keeping a clean core can help you reduce implementation time lower implementation cost, and TCO. It streamlines and removes unnecessary components to make the system easier to use, maintain, and update. 

Intent upon securing first-mover or fast-follower status, CEOs are keeping technology risk front of mind in the short and long term. However, transitioning from existing on-premise legacy systems to SAP  BTP can be a complex endeavor that demands careful consideration, strategic planning, and flawless execution. 

At first look, transitioning to SAP BTP might seem risky and complex, given the complexity involved in every business. Organizations have to consider multiple factors before starting their transformation journey. However, the entire process can be seamless if a trusted and experienced partner holds the torch during the journey. 

Crave InfoTech specializes in non- SAP & SAP BTP upgrades. We understand the evolving business needs and offer custom BTP solutions to help organizations transform and grow their business. Contact us to know more about how we can help your organization transition.

You can also join us at the upcoming SAP BTP Executive Summit and gain comprehensive insights into future-proofing your enterprise with optimum agility. Don’t miss this chance to pave the way to your future success!